An action is virtuous due to its being directed by reason to a noble good. And this is true of fasting. For we fast for three purposes: (1) to restrain the desires of the flesh; (2) to raise the mind to contemplate sublime things; (3) to make satisfaction for our sins. (St. Thomas Aquinas ST II-II 147)
Shrove Tuesday in Quinquagesima Week
The fundamental
rule of Christian life is, as almost every page of the Gospel tells us, that we
should live out of the world, separate ourselves from the world, hate the
world. The world is that ungodly land which Abraham, our sublime model, is
commanded by God to quit. It is that Babylon of our exile and captivity, where
we are beset with dangers. The beloved disciple cries out to us: 'Love not the
world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the
charity of the Father is not in him. (John 2:15) Our most merciful Jesus, at
the very time when He was about to offer Himself as a sacrifice for all men,
spoke these words: 'I pray not for the world.' (John 17: 9)
When we were
baptized, and were signed with the glorious and indelible and were signed with
the glorious and indelible character of Christians, the condition required of
us, and accepted, was that we should renounce the works and pomps of the world
(which we expressed under the name of Satan); and this solemn baptismal promise
we have often renewed.
But what is the
meaning of our promise to renounce the world? Is it that we cannot be
Christians, unless we flee into the desert and separate ourselves from our
fellow-creatures? Such cannot be God's will for all, since, in that same
Scripture, wherein He commands us to flee from the world, He also tells us what
are our duties to each other, and sanctions and blesses those ties which He
Himself has willed should exist among us. His apostle, also, tells us to use
this world as though we did not use it. (1 Corinthians 7:31) It is not,
therefore, forbidden us to live in, and to use the world. Then, what means this
renouncing the world? Can there be contradiction in God's commandments? Is it
possible that we are condemned to wander blindly on the brink of a precipice,
into which we must at last inevitably fall?
There is neither
contradiction nor snare. If by the world, we mean these visible things around
us which God created in His power and goodness; if we mean this outward world,
which He made for His own glory and our benefit; it is worthy of it a ladder
whereby our souls may ascend to their God. Let us gratefully use this world; go
through it, without making it the object of our hope; not waste upon it that
love, which God alone deserves; and ever be mindful, that we are not made for
this, but for another and a happier, world.
But the majority
of men are not thus prudent in their use of the world. Their hearts are fixed
upon it, and not upon Heaven. Hence it was, that when the Creator deigned to
come into this world, in order that He might save it, the world knew Him
not.(John 1:10) Men were called after the name of the object of their love.
They shut their eyes to the light; they became darkness; God calls them 'the
world.'
In this sense,
then, the world is everything that is opposed to our Lord Jesus Christ, that
refuses to recognize Him, and that resists His divine guidance. Those false
maxims which tend to weaken the love of God in our souls; which recommended the
vanities that fasten our hearts to this present life; which cry down everything
that can raise us above our weaknesses or vices; which decoy and gratify our
corrupt nature by dangerous pleasures, which, far from helping us to the
attainment of our last end, only mislead us – all these are 'the world.'
This world is
everywhere, and holds a secret league within our very hearts. Sin has brought
it into this exterior world created by God for Himself, and has given it prominence.
Now, we must conquer it, and trample upon it, or we shall perish with it. There
is no being neutral; we must be its enemies, or its slaves. During these three
days, its triumphs are fearful; and thousands of those who, at their Baptism,
swore eternal enmity to it, are enrolling themselves its votaries. Let us pray
for them; but let us also tremble for ourselves; and that our courage may not
fail us, let us ponder those consoling words, which our Savior, at His last
Supper, addressed to His eternal Father. He is speaking of His disciples, and
He says: 'Father! I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them,
because they are not of the world, as I also am not of the world. I pray not,
that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them
from evil'(John 17:14, 15.) ~ Gueranger, Liturgical Year, Tuesday in Quinquagesima Week
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